Chris Long Talks Lions vs Refs, Flacco, Eagles, Lamar, CFP & More with Rich Eisen | Full Interview

Two-time Super Bowl Champion/’Green Light’ podcast host Chris Long and Rich Eisen discuss Michigan vs Washington in the College Football Playoff final, if officials or the players were to blame for the 2-point conversion snafu at the end of the Detroit Lions vs Dallas Cowboys Week 17 game, the chances the Philadelphia Eagles get bounced from the playoffs in the Wild Card round, and if Joe Flacco and the Cleveland Browns can get past Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC to reach the Super Bowl.

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Green light pod host one of my favorites Happy New Year to you Chris Long happy New Year sir what’s going on dude a very Happy New Year to you and the Michigan Wolverines oh you have no idea honestly I know you’ve won championships before um I haven’t okay uh in football I I’m

I’m a Jet fan I’m a 54 year old man that says it all okay and then I started rooting for the Michigan Wolverines in 1986 when I first showed up on campus there or late 85 when I was accepted early admission and because I’m you know that’s a humble

Brag yeah that was that was good okay I don’t even know what that means early adiss it means I was smart enough to say I want to go there I no I’m saying I was I smart enough to say I want to go there and nowhere else listen so I’m feeling

It right now but what did I’m sure you were part of the 27 million people who watched that game on ESPN what did you think I thought it was awesome I loved you know like I think the the thing that’s plagued as a casual college football fan that

Whole playoff thing has been the first round games have been cheeks Rich they’ve been terrible you know they’ve been two touchdown games that sort of thing and so I thought getting two great games was awesome and I love seeing the different styles of play like you know I

Love rock fights in the NFL if it if it’s 129 sign me up Thursday night Monday night I’ll be in the chow line and you know when it comes to college football I just love seeing a 27 24 type game I mean it was just like every possession

Mattered and the Run game mattered for Bama and there were there was drama there were bad snaps there was a bad call on the goal line I didn’t understand that um I thought it was great and you know like I Michigan I have no issue with Michigan in fact I’m

Really excited to see Michigan in the national championship but it’s going to be hard for me to root for anybody but Washington because watching penck at night was like you know and I know it’s the Pack 12 and a lot of people don’t watch these games but it was a great

Opportunity for people to see what this guy’s got and some of the throws he made especially early in that game backed up on the goal line it’s loud as hell there um it’s like 70% Texas and to make those throws it was incredible and I think

Like it sucks for you guys because any other year most of America would be rooting for you but this is the last year of the conference of Champions and it’s just like the the storylines are crazy and so whoever wins I think I’ll be really happy as a casual fan but it’s

Hard for me not to root for Washington that was just an amazing game that’s all right Chris and and and you know you said that you unfortunately for Michigan this year no one’s going to be rooting for him everyone’s going to be rooting for Washington that’s fine cuz we are

Now the villains aren’t you aware of that we’re now the villains it’s it’s it’s it’s US versus everybody and you who used to put on dog mask asks to win a Super Bowl you you would appreciate that mentality right that the whole locker room thinks the whole world’s

Against him that’s potent I will use thatle it sir I like they need to put on a Conor stallion’s mask who is that wait a minute a bad connection yeah I can’t believe that guy was there I don’t he was apparently there but whatever yeah I mean that’s

That’s literally the way it is and that’s a potent that is a very potent lotion to just you know throw the cologne to just spray on you man before a big game yeah you got you you got you got Washington who feels like that I had Cole cuck on last night who’s awesome

And I loved watching as I called it the Cube cast the other night you know they called the McAfee cast but I thought cubc was great and col McCoy and all those guys and acho and Harry Douglas and they’re doing laps around the stadium but you know I I I think I I

Think they’ve got that team of Destiny Vibe and you guys have that us against the world Vibe and I think that makes for a really cool kind of deal Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen show walk me through what Steelers players are thinking when they hear the official for

Their must-have game is the one that was the official Between the Lions and the Cowboys does that matter or we’re just talking about it in the media Chris I think if you’re gonna get a good week out of this official it’s this week um you know like after you play poorly you

Know you always buy a team low that type of thing by this officiating crew low it’s not like they missed a bunch of judgment calls like they just missed the most obvious communicative call of the night in the biggest spot and you know I I think that the lions got screwed you

Can talk about the tripping penalty and that sort of thing there are calls that are missed in every game um I’m certainly not taking anything away from the Cowboys but the way that game ended was tough and you know like the Lions lost that game because

They decided not to go to overtime after the first time that they used up two of their two-point conversion plays which are like you know you you you guard those things you wait for your you an opportunity to use your best play they they send a guy in motion on the first

Play you get a timeout okay so that one’s out the door and then you run that trick play that the referee’s totally botched because you know like I’m watching Decker he’s got his elbow out on that wide angle he’s reporting like you can’t convince me otherwise and the

Fact that the league says hey it’s on the players that’s the biggest BS in the world especially when you demote your officials in the the playoffs you know that’s an acknowledgement of doing wrong but then you don’t acknowledge it outwardly um but the issue I have is and

I love Dan Campbell and I love the fact that he’s aggressive and he takes every situation individually like whether it’s the fake punt or the fourth and three that he goes or the fourth in in short that he he kicks the field goal tied at 10 or the two-point conversion but I

Felt like he was a gambler chasing his losses and believe me it takes one to No One um you know like after that first one you shouldn’t be going again you get bailed out on that next call and then you’re down to your like fourth two-point play and you’re at the four

And to me the question is do you trust jerck G to make that throw perfectly because if he makes it perfectly the ball’s probably at the pylon right and and you know we’re talking about the Lions winning but because they lost that game Rich the Ripple effects are huge

Dallas gets two home games uh and probably you’ve walked La into Ford Field you’ve walked Matt Stafford you’ve walked Shawn McVey into Ford Field which is a tough matchup I’m not saying Green Bay wouldn’t be tougher but there is a mental thing with that and the way it

Happens is because Detroit doesn’t win that game San Francisco has nothing to play for this weekend and you see the the ripple effect there with LA probably maybe winning that game um and and sliding into that six seed so it’s not just a blown call it’s

Seismic no doubt Chris I I I was hanging on your every word right there so my follow-up for you is defensive lineman can you be tricked in the manner that the Lions attempted to trick the defensive line of the Dallas Cowboys and wound up tricking Brad Allen at the same

Time I mean is that information um do do you do you listen to exactly who’s reported as eligible or does or do you watch it do you not if you’re not in coverage generally a defensive line when you get an unbalanced look or an extra tackle you’re going to make an adjustment based

On how you adjust those looks so you know like then you’re in the Run fit but the guys in in pass coverage and the reason I can’t like I can’t be too down on Dallas here is because when they report someone else eligible over the loudspeaker that’s that’s the assumption

That everybody on the back end’s going off of so there is the alternate universe or there is there is the scenario where you know you have to acknowledge that Dallas didn’t think that uh Decker was eligible in the first place and that’s on the officiating crew too now in an alternate universe where

They say Decker’s elig eligible that play is probably played differently so there’s a couple things at play here and I think Dallas had they known who was eligible maybe they have a fighting chance to stop that play but you know all around just bad and if I was a

League and I had multiple two-point conversions to say either hey give the ball with to Dallas with 13 seconds to go down one we screwed this up you had three minutes probably four minutes to do that there’s a phone line from from New York you know I know that would have

Felt like the hand of God or something or like you know somebody playing God from New York but and it had been unprecedented but there’s so much on the line like replay the down or give Detroit the ball or give Dallas the ball rather with 13 seconds to go down one

That to me the mechanics of that situation are tough and it’s not like they just kick the ball off 30 seconds later there was a ton of time to get that right so just a a real blind spot for the league CH long green light with Chris Long podcast host here on the

Wednesday before week 18 in the NFL all right I I I don’t know how much further Philadelphia can can fall oh they can fall they can they can go they can fall further well I mean I listen um but they can’t fall further than five right so

They right so and and I part of what you just were we’re talking about uh the end of lions Cowboys and the ripple effect and you say Cowboys get two playoff games at home if they they survive super Wild Card Weekend um you know and we’re assuming they’re going to beat the

Washington commanders and then the Eagles are going to have to go to the NFC South champ I mean yeah do you fall so far that they they get oneand dned by an eight and N team potentially a nine and8 bucks team like is that is that is

That what you’re talking about right now the Eagles the Eagles defense since week 12 in EPA is bottom three okay like they have one of the worst defense in the league and I’m not being personal I’m not piling on there’s nothing some of my buddies can do about that UPF front you

Know the guys that I still talk to um and this isn’t coming from them I I try to stay out of that stuff talking to my boys I mean like you know I text Lane after the game it’s just how you feeling you know you looked great it’s not hey

What’s Brian Johnson doing um these are my conclusions they’re too they’re too bad uh on the back end the Personnel is too bad the linebacker play too bad um and this defensive front which would be a plus um on a lot of other teams you’re not able to unlock their ability to rush

The passer because the fraction is the time but also the Run fits are bad and you saw that a lot during the Cardinals game you know you’re not just one-dimensionally bad you know um James Connor who’s a great back and I think Arizona the reason I was worried about

This game was Arizona has looked like a professional offensive outfit since Kyler’s been back Bal barely touched the ground in the second half for him Conor had maybe his best game of the year Michael Carter is is looking like an all proo and that all that stuff is

Happening against your guys on the and things like Ringo being flat footed on Fourth and four and giving up inside release this stuff happens all the time in the NFL every Sunday things like Ricks getting shook in the open field stuff like that but when it happens to

The Eagles it’s so spectacularly bad and it’s also so so frequent that there’s just too much to overcome and the and the Run fits are suffering too you could see that Sunday so all the lifelines that howy Roseman has thrown and he’s so well known for throwing these lifelines

Late in the season season whether it’s our Super Bowl year bringing in Jay you know bringing in Golden Tate the next year when we made a run came up short um this year it’s been bued the coverage hasn’t been great it’s been uh Leonard and there’s a reason he he wound up out

Of Indie they’re in the middle of a playoff push you know um and then you know avonte Maddox getting back who really that started the slide losing him you think he’s coming to the rescue he gets beat some late in that game so the lifelines are even drying up and so for

Me yeah you can lose to the Bucks I mean you can absolutely lose to the bucks now I heard what you guys said right before I came on and I bet Carolina immediately uh at at they’re catching six points this weekend so it’s no foregone conclusion that it is the Bucks yeah but

I I think the Eagles are in a place where they can lose to anybody now I think they can still beat anybody in the NFC short of San Francisco I still think they can beat Dallas I still think they can they you know yeah but you’re going

To have to score 30 points and that’s the uncomfortable truth right now of being a Philadelphia Eagles you have to win these shootouts and I can remember when when being in a two-minute drill at the link for the offense you know trying to score a field goal or

Touchdown at the end of that game with 75,000 people whatever it is going nuts that was a scary thing for the offense like I can remember a time I was there and last year it was scary now it’s flipped and when they kick that field

Goal at the end of the game because of a penalty because of you know play calls and all that stuff the whole crowd knew what time it was you know they knew we were going to lose this game or go to overtime because that’s what you get

When you play the Eagles in two-minute situation right now Seattle the giants made it too close and then they lose a game in the two-minute um situation this Sunday well I mean a lot to to chew on right there first for our radio audience the information you were referring to

That we talked about on our Roku channel is that Baker Mayfield is practicing today um in a walk through and Todd B saying that if it was a full practice he still would not have practiced as well so his availability for Sunday is uh questionable to say the least right now

Without that actual official injury designation and then just in terms of what you said about the Eagles you take a look at their schedule from this year I mean they they beat a a Minnesota team with Kirk Cousins even though that was in their their winless start um and

Tampa wasn’t what Tampa turned into just yet um they came out here and beat the Rams when the Rams were clearly Better Than People thought they smoked the Dolphins they you know did get some help against Dallas as well as Marquez Valdez scantling dropping a ball at Kansas City

And then obviously Buffalo having something in overtime go against them when Allen threw one way and Gabe Davis ran another but why I mean there’s a lot of Greenup on that screen for WIS why can’t they find that I mean you make it seem like there’s no there’s really uh

Obviously anything’s possible but is is that team gone is that is that basically team from weeks one to week 12 gone all of a sudden well the qu the quality wins they’ve had um you know they’ve been able to score right and you know like the Buffalo game Buffalo went up and

Down the field on them um that defense has always been kind of a problem this year especially with the injuries and then when slay decides to get scoped at the end of the year you know you got Bradberry out here there who’s not a man corner and the Personnel is just bad and

I think also more than anything how many times do you see Super Bowl teams have to replace both coordinators I know the answer it’s not often right um I think San Francisco had to do it in the 90s I think the the the Patriots had to do it

In the early 2000s and it’s just a tall task and I think you know the offense is running a poor imitational last year’s offense um I think sometimes you assume that because you you know you know the things that a quarterback likes or the scheme is going to be somewhat similar

You know you think things are just going to roll over in the next year but offensive coordinators are game planners they’re teachers of the scheme they’re quarterback Whisperers they’re people that understand how to use people you know it’s not just because you have the menu doesn’t mean that you know what to

Order at a given moment and I think I think that’s been the problem you lost the touch of a guy who’s gone out every week pretty much in Indie and a touchdown in the first drive Shane’s a wizard and I think defensively John Ganon proved why you know this year he

Was although he took a lot of crap in Philly a real deal ball coach and that guy knew that team really well and he came in there and got that win so they have lost some good coordinators and it’s hard to replace those guys and they’re just not the same team as last

Year like even earlier in the season when we lauded them for getting to 10 and one or 10- two or 10 and three after a Super Bowl that is is special make no mistake about it they have done some special stuff this year but they’ve been flawed since the beginning of the season

And you know San Francisco is in a class Above the Rest and that’s been something that I think we knew from the beginning of the season last one for you Chris long you’re the perfect guy to ask about this because you know you know what it

Takes to win in this league you know what it takes to win a championship and a Super Bowl in this league you’re also a 38y old with kids what Joe Flaco bingo bingo like put into words what’s happening right now for Joe I think I think it’s incredible I I think first

Off Kevin stansky amazing coach and and I knew that before this year I think his schemes are awesome I think he puts defense in a lot of binds but losing chub you know losing quarterbacks starting four different quarterbacks you know look at the move he made look at

The move that Barry and them made by by saying hey we’re gon to pick up Flaco off the street and we’re going to play him the Jets Robert Salah sorry you can’t win them all rich you know can’t be Michigan and the Jets in the same year but Robert solid’s talking about

You know Joe Flaco’s an F-150 it’s nice to have a a truck like that in December you know like and I’m like well you you could have least one man you know like there there are other teams that passed up on Joe and for them to make that move

I think they knew he had something in the tank and even if he didn’t his leadership is evident okay and it’s cool to be a young guy in the NFL talked about this on inside the NFL yesterday it’s cool to be a young guy in the NFL but what’s really even

Cooler is being a vet with clout when you walk into a locker room and all the young guys they want to know what you know they want to know what it takes to get there they they gravitate towards you you know and I think Joe has that on

The ultimate level because he’s a quarterback he’s won a Super Bowl and then when you go out there and play the way he’s played he’s unlocked the confidence in them schematically now you got to defend every blade of grass because he takes shots and uh I think I

I I think back to 2017 when Frank Reich our offensive coordinator at the time was asked about Nick Foles and how do you give a backup quarterback the confidence that he needs to succeed Frank said and this in a direct quote but he goes I think we have the opposite

Problem with Nick folos the guy wants to make every throw you know he wants to he wants to he he wants to he wants to finish you you know like this guy he wants to hit every area of the field and make all the throws and I think Joe’s

The same way he’s aggressive and so you didn’t just find a game manager you found a guy who wants to go for the kill and I think that’s the thing that they have to walk a thin line on because hey they’re really good I I I didn’t think

They’d be as good without Amari Cooper I wanted to look like I want to see what theyd look like with Amari Cooper against two team with two corners but they didn’t have him and they still moved the ball up and down the field but the thing that can bite them is

Turnovers they have a minus s or minus8 differential Rich if you go back the last 10 years and look at the Super Bowl there’s only two teams I think that got there with a minus turnover differential you know and so that’s the thing that they have to clean up that could be

Borne out of though having DTR and PJ Walker right starting a ton of games throughout the year too so my last question is a follow-up is you mentioned fos you won it all with them you think the Browns can win it all what do you think they can beat anybody in the

AFC they can beat anybody in the AFC and if you look at turnover differential to your point I had the same thought but if you sort it for last three games they’re still not great okay you know and Flaco throwing picks sometimes and and some of the you know the turnovers they’ve had

Can be the thing to get in the way of that but if if they have a plus turnover differential during the playoffs I put them in a group of four okay I put I put San Francisco and Baltimore in one group you if you want

To include two other teams in in in in that group I think the bills and and the Browns are are two teams that can do the whole thing but the caveat is if you look up in January and they’re minus five in the playoffs don’t come to me

And say well you said the Browns could win it all they can only win it all if they stop turning the ball over if they stop turning the ball over that team can win it all well what about the Ravens I know I got to let you go but I mean the

Ravens are they’re killing everybody so you got to throw them in it’s got to be a group of five right no I I had the my group of four is the Ravens the ners okay and then and then the the Cleveland Browns and the bills and the bills and

The Browns are kind of in that dangerous group that can can do it now a lot of teams can do it and part of that’s going to be predicated on if somebody knocks San Francisco off then all of a sudden you got a couple teams

In the AFC that can win it um and if somebody knocks San Francisco off like I don’t know what a matchup with Dallas or Philly and whatever the afc’s got to offer looks like I just don’t know so there’s a couple things that hinge on teams getting eliminated but I think

This is as wide open as it’s been in Baltimore the thumping that they put the fourth and seven Rich that they threw the ball to Isaiah likeley my jaw was on the floor when the offense stayed out there it’s 2113 the Dolphins I’ve said this I’ve been banging this drum every time they

Play a playoff team they average about 19 points a game um but I’m still afraid of that offense for some reason and so going into the half you’re going to get the ball out of the half it’s 2113 you say the hell with it we’re that confident in the team we have you

Watched the Dallas game a week goo I felt like Dallas and Miami were vying to see who would play who would play from ahead and it was like tight early in that game Baltimore was playing against themselves they were like can we score 60 that was their attitude and Lamar’s

The MVP they look like the best team in the league right now well don’t forget if you root for the Washington Huskies you’re rooting against all harbaughs pal and it looks like it’s a har ball year you know what I’m saying it might be a harball year man you know and his dad

Their dad look Jack the greatest I know that’s how dads it works with dads but like this guy I thought it was I thought it was an AI like you know when you when when you when you when when you know the Chinese get your camera roll on Tik Tok

And you you put in like your face and all of a sudden they own you like there’s a there’s one of those AI things that if I put my face in I could see what I look like when I’m 80 I thought that’s what it was

Jim it’s Jack chip off the old block um Chris good luck um you know with your shows this week let’s chat next week as always and have me on during the playoffs please let’s do it dude yeah come through let me know you tell me all right buddy you got after Michigan win

Maybe oh okay even if not I’ll do it you know you got me you had me at hello Chris Long thanks for the time happy New Year that’s the Walter pton man of the year 2018 Super Bowl champ twice over host of green light as well as a co-host

Of inside the NFL and the CW catch the rich eyes and show every single day on the Roku Channel 12 to3 Eastern for free